Millionaire’s Mile, New York, NY
Online Walking Tour
Social status in New York City at the turn of the 20th century was determined by pedigree as well as wealth, and the private residences built on the Upper East Side reflected both. By 1900, the ‘Old Money’ of New York began to settle along the less developed eastern side of Central Park, where numerous mansions would rise. This mansion rush—with families using intimidatingly lavish architecture as a status symbol—marked the beginning of the neighborhood’s elite reputation. The neighborhood featured some of New York’s grandest homes—so grand that the stretch of Fifth Avenue, beginning around 50th Street, became known as “Millionaire’s Row.” Join Royal Oak as we explore some of the more memorable and exclusive blocks of the south section of the Upper East Side Historic District with an online walking tour.
Architectural historian Matt Postal will illustrate his talk with images of some of the neighborhood’s most magnificent mansions—some now consulates, private clubs, offices galleries etc. We will look at Beaux-Arts style houses that were commissioned as wedding gifts for Ernesto and Edith Fabbri (daughter of Maria Louise Vanderbilt) and the William and Maria Schieffelin (daughter of Margaret Vanderbilt Shepherd), now the Lotos Club. He will examine agroup of distinguished neo-Georgian clubhouses such as the Knickerbocker and Colony Clubs – both designed by the prominent architects Delano & Aldrich — and the Links, where golfers and chief executives have mingled for more than a century.
